Cali has already been ruled out and I'm liking the Jax area more and more. A friend showed me this house for only $94,900: https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...9_M55871-51160

Somebody REALLY likes grey......

yeah, lol. But $94,000? Maybe it's in a bad area.
Makes me wonder what $250,000 can get in Jax area and I will do some looking online.

Make sure you get the inside info on the area and region on "what's not in the brochure".

My parents retired and moved to Goodyear, AZ from Chicago. Yeah, the heat didn't work out for them. They became recluses in their house 9+ months out of the year. Her diabetes got worse, and he got frailer. (They were in their mid 60s & 70s.) What 'wasn't in the brochure' though was the fact that the locales and school systems were so over-committed and broke, that they had to vote on going to a 4-day school week or shortening the school day; all to keep the air conditioners running less to afford electricity out of their OpEx budgets. That trickle down effect, affected everything in local government, taxes upon taxes, etc.

So they moved to Greenville, SC. Greenville has been referred to as the "Phoenix of the East Coast", as it's a big retirement area. Taxes cheap. Fuel tax cheap.
Downside? South Carolina roads are the WORST in the nation. Such played hell on their car tires, and suspensions.
And the medical side? Nightmare. 6 weeks to 6 months to get medical appointments. The system was completely overtaxed. My stepmom's cancer silently grew which took her too early at the age of 69.

I know the things I mentioned may not be relevant for any/all of us based on our situations and ages.
BUT, spend some time talking to those that have been in the area for a few years.
Find out those things that nobody talks about.
Those were lessons that they/we learned; all the hard way.

I'm sorry about your stepmother. We have friends who moved to Vegas and in summer average temps hit 115 with unrelenting sun. They hate it there! Jax area shows average summer temps in the low 90s. Right now it is 72 in Jax.

We live in the Cocoa Beach/ Merritt Island area. Pretty much Cape Canaveral (the launch woke us up this morning).

It has been 10 years since we moved and we lived in Citrus county, Madeira Beach on the gulf side and Orlando. We really would have preferred the gulf side since the water is nicer but both of us still work so this is where we landed. Came from Indiana, for us it is much more expensive here and wages are way down, that part will not matter to you. The lack of state tax gets ate up quick with tolls, and insurance.

One thing we forgot about is when you look at the temps, it doesn't tell you how intense the sun is here. You are much closer to the equator and in the summer it is brutal, I do like this side during those times as we almost always have a breeze off the ocean.

Prob the Jax area is most affordable but is also least desired I would say. Doesn't mean it's bad by any means, big city with lots to do for sure.

Also what's affordable or? $94k or is also $194k affordable? Really makes a difference as for the higher amount you can get a single family home in a lot of areas. It won't be knock your socks off amazing but would be plenty.

I personally love our area here.. I am actually I. Dunedin/Palm Harbor but any of Pinellas is great.

I have lived in the Southeast for the last 33 years (including South Carolina). My experience is that Greenville (specifically I-85 and the surrounding areas) has terrible roads (always under repair/upgrade) but SC in general has great stretches of highway/roads. Okay, I-26 on the way to Charleston has some rough spots.

It's not always like this but 10 Dec...78F at The Cobalt Restaurant at Perdido Pass, Orange Beach Alabama. Excellent parking/docking.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...cb436effa5.jpg

We're trying to keep this idea alive. I'm monitoring the weather in Jax everyday and we will be going there this winter or spring and talk to some realtors and check the area out.